Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Minister Shri Radha Mohan Singh, while addressing the conference of Vice Chancellors of State Agriculture Universities and Directors of ICAR institutes in Pusa, New Delhi, said that in the “Sabka Sath – Sabka Vikas” mantra of Hon’ble Prime Minister, Farmers’ Welfare is an integral part of New India.
Under this, a number of strategic initiatives have been taken to accelerate the progress of agriculture and to transform the farm sector. In this direction, various initiatives have been taken by the Agriculture Universities and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
He said that in the last four and half years, the ICAR has supplemented the Government’s “Soil Health Card” initiative and has developed a mini Lab “Mridaparikshak” for soil testing. For problems related to climate change, 45 Integrated Farming System Models (IFS) have been created by including all the 15 agro-climatic regions to benefit small and marginal farmers.
Shri Singh said that with the efforts of Modi government, for the first time, on the lines of ICAR’s leading institute IARI-Pusa, IARI-Assam is being established and IARI-Jharkhand has been established. An Administrative block in IARI-Jharkhand was recently inaugurated. At the same time, 6 new colleges have been opened under Central Agricultural University (CAU), Imphal and Indian Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology (IIAB) has been established in Ranchi, Jharkhand.
For the advancement of agriculture, Agriculture universities and ICAR have readily adopted e-mode of payments. Farmers have access to Kisan Portal, Mobile-based farmer advisory-KMA SMS portal, toll free helpline, data centre and mobile app for various breeds. Pusa Agriculture – technology mobile app, PulseExpert mobile app for pulse crops has been released.
The Minister called for better synergy between education and research in our endeavour towards nation building. With combined efforts, the betterment of agriculture in the country will pave the way for the betterment of the farmers and their income will be doubled.